Thaw in US-Cuba Relations Could Warm Up MLB; Analysis; but It Could Take a While for a System to Be Put in Place

Article excerpt

If one ripple from the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations means baseball
prospects get off the island and into the major leagues without
payoffs to smugglers and threats from kidnappers, it's hard to see
the downside.

Just don't expect too much, too soon.

Barely two hours after President Barack Obama's dramatic
announcement Wednesday in Washington, both MLB and its players'
union acknowledged as much in statements.

"We will keep our clubs informed if this different direction may
impact the manner in which they conduct business on issues related
to Cuba," MLB said.

"We remain hopeful that today's announcement will lead to further
positive developments," the union said.

Let's hope so, considering how few positive developments have
occurred before now. There were 25 Cuban-born players in the big
leagues this past season, the best of whom arguably is Los Angeles
Dodgers star Yasiel Puig. The story of how he finally got there,
after four failed attempts to leave Cuba, involved a boat trip, a
detour in which he was held hostage in a Mexican motel room,
repeated extortion threats and crossing the U.S. border illegally.

On Tuesday, South Florida businessman Gilberto Suarez pleaded
guilty for his role in the conspiracy to smuggle Puig out in return
for a sizable cut of his multimillion-dollar salary.

Suarez was the second man this year to enter a guilty plea
related to the smuggling of a Cuban baseball player into the U.S.
Last month, Eliezer Lazo was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison
for conspiring to smuggle 1,000 Cubans among them Texas Rangers
outfielder Leonys Martin. Sadly, stories such as Puig's unsavory and
sometimes life-threatening journey differs from so many others only
in the details.

Cuba has been turning out world-class athletes and not just
ballplayers for more than a century. But since the 1959 revolution,
most have stayed put.

Track stars and multiple medalists such as Alberto Juantorena and
Javier Sotomayor took star turns on the Olympic stage, but never
reaped rewards that were commensurate with their talents. So, too,
did heavyweights Teofilo Stevenson and Felix Savon, two of only
three boxers to win gold medals at three Olympics and considered
among the greatest amateurs ever. But neither turned pro.

Stevenson was so smooth that a fight against Muhammad Ali often
was hyped and loudly debated when both were near their prime, but
never came off. And some boxing observers think Savon, who succeeded
Stevenson, was definitely the better of the two.

But baseball was the stage where Cuba's athletes shined
brightest. Its version of the Big Red Machine dominated the
international scene from the 1940s on, even as team officials
thinned out the ranks for potential defectors and conducted bed
checks with a zealousness the Cuban army would have admired.

But after back-to-back gold medals in Barcelona (1992) and
Atlanta (1996) and a raft of defections in spite of the dangers
the cupboard was nearly empty. The team Cuba brought to Sydney for
the 2000 Games was largely the same it had sent to the previous two
Olympics, as well as every important international competition in
between. …